Despite Repeatedly Reassuring Becca He Was There for Her, Colton Just Admitted He Wanted Tia to Be ‘Bachelorette’

Holy moly. One of the major controversies of this season of The Bachelorette revolved around the fact that Colton Underwood dated Tia Booth before going on the show to fight for Becca Kufrin‘s love. From the very beginning, Becca worried that he had been hoping that not her but Tia would be the leading lady, and despite promising her that wasn’t the case, Colton now admits he was hoping for more time with his former flame.

“I’m not going to lie, yeah,” Colton told Glamour when they asked him if he was hoping Tia would be Bachelorette after Men Tell All. He said the only thing that stopped him from being committed to Tia was time, and he wanted more of it… on TV. “I was very up front and honest, like, ‘I hope it’s you. I’m just letting you know I’m going on.'” he said. “She knew from day two of us talking that I was a finalist for the show, and I said how cool would it be [if it was Tia].”

He said that once he found out he would be battling it out for Becca instead, Tia was nothing but supportive. “[Tia] said, ‘Becca’s a great person, and I can’t wait for you to see your journey and hear about your experience. I’m so jealous. That’s awesome.”

Well, Tia didn’t think it was awesome toward the end of the season. As a matter of fact, she told Becca that she still had feelings for him and it “killed her” to hear about him dating Becca. That’s when Becca sent him packing and it was revealed that he’s going on Bachelor in Paradise, and so is Tia.

In a new trailer for the upcoming season, Tia proudly declares that “I’m going to paradise just for Colton.” A few scenes later, Colton can be seen crying on the edge of his bed and wringing his hands while saying, “I didn’t expect it to be like this.” Not long after, Tia is seen crying while saying, “I signed up for it.”

So, hypothetically, if the duo were both in paradise and are already done filming, they very well may be currently dating right now! Here’s what Colton had to say about Paradise: “Paradise is emotional. I think there’s a lot of conversations that need to be had. It’s full of unexpected surprises that are both good, happy, sad, funny, all the emotions. I felt everything in Paradise.” Mhm. Ok.